SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload from communications satellite company Inmarsat, the fourth in a constellation created to provide high-bandwidth broadband internet globally. The payload is the largest ever launched on a Falcon 9, which is why the mission parameters didn’t call for an attempt to recover the first stage of the rocket. Read More

SpaceX is launching a Falcon 9 rocket at 6:27 PM EDT (3:27 PM PDT) today, provided all goes to plan. The company has launched many Falcon 9 rockets in the past, but this time is a bit different – the rocket in this case has already been launched once before, and will now carry a payload for commercial client SES for its second go-around.
You can watch the whole thing unfold above… Read More

Blue Origin is working towards the first launch of its super heavy-lift rocket, the New Glenn. Bezos’s rocket company just released a video showing how the rocket will launch and land. Spoiler: It’s a lot like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
In the video embedded below, the rocket takes off from a pad close to a company facility and lands vertically on a large barge in a similar fashion… Read More

Update: SpaceX aborted the launch with 13 seconds to go, citing the issue with the positioning of an engine nozzle that’s responsible for steering the rocket in the second stage as the cause. The company said it was exercising “an abundance of caution” in postponing the launch, but wanted to be absolutely sure. The next launch window is at 9:38 AM ET on Sunday… Read More

SpaceX just shared some promising news for those eager to see the private space company achieve its goal of re-flying a rocket it recovered from an earlier mission: It has succeeded in running a static test firing of a recovered Falcon 9 first-stage, a key step towards actually using the rocket component again in another mission for an actual paying customer.
The company tweeted a photo of… Read More

SpaceX’s first return to active launch status could be only a few days away, as the payload from Iridium has been loaded on to the Falcon 9 rocket that’s set to take it to space on January 14 if all goes well. The launch was postponed from a planned January 9 date on Sunday this week, due to prevailing weather conditions at the Vandenberg Air Force base launchpad.
The new window… Read More

With side-hustles being all the rage these days, the new Shaper Origin makes it easier than ever to start building and selling cool gadgets in your free time. While you might not be able to build yourself a homemade Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s handheld CNC machine, you just might be able to build yourself a successful shop on Etsy.
CNC machining is not a new concept, but it… Read More

Update: SpaceX has confirmed that there were no personnel injuries in the blast but the rocket and payload were destroyed.
According to numerous eyewitness reports, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just exploded during a test on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral. This rocket was set to launch on Saturday, Sept. 3 on a mission to deliver Facebook’s first satellite to orbit.
This rocket was… Read More

Latest Crunch Report

Luxembourg based satellite company SES announced today that they’ve made an agreement with SpaceX to be the first company to launch a payload on a used Falcon 9 rocket.
The re-flight, scheduled to take place late this year, will mark the next big milestone on SpaceX’s path toward rocket reusability. To date, Elon Musk’s rocket company has recovered six Falcon 9 boosters… Read More

At 1:26am ET, SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral and, once again, recovered the first stage of that rocket on a drone ship floating in the ocean. More importantly, SpaceX successfully completed the primary mission of today’s launch by inserting their payload, the JCSAT-16 satellite, into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).
First stage landing confirmed on… Read More

Tonight SpaceX successfully recovered yet another rocket, making it their fifth one in total.
Elon Musk’s rocket company launched their two-stage Falcon 9 vehicle from Cape Canaveral at 9:45 pm PT tonight and subsequently recovered the first stage of that rocket back on land. The landing marks the second time SpaceX recovered a rocket on land and their fifth recovered first stage in… Read More

Today, NASA successfully completed a full-duration qualification ground test of the booster that is designed to lift the most powerful rocket in the world.
This particular test was a cold motor test used to provide data on how the rocket motor operates at the colder end of its accepted propellant temperature range. NASA cooled the motor over the last several weeks to get temperatures down to… Read More

The SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, this morning at 10:29 a.m. ET carrying two communication satellites to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). Shortly after launch, the Falcon 9 first stage returned to a drone ship in the Atlantic, but it came in too hard and the booster exploded upon touchdown.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the rocket experienced an RUD, which stands for… Read More

It’s been a good week for SpaceX. Earlier this week we learned that the company won a lucrative contract with the National Reconnaissance Office, the tight-lipped government organization that runs America’s reconnaissance satellites. Today, with the launch of Orbital ATK-built communications satellite THAICOM 8 from Kennedy Space Center’s Space Launch Complex 40, SpaceX has… Read More

Less than a month after their last successful mission, SpaceX is back at it. Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 5:40pm EDT tomorrow with telecommunications satellite Thaicom 8 on board.
What’s truly notable is that tomorrow’s launch will be the fifth one for SpaceX this year, demonstrating an increased launch frequency compared to last year.
In 2015… Read More

India has successfully completed their first small step toward joining the other players in the market of reusable spacecraft.
On Monday, the Indian Space Research Organization (India’s version of NASA) launched a 22-foot winged spacecraft to an altitude of 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) and navigated the vehicle back down into the Bay of Bengal, east of India.
The entire mission… Read More

SpaceX successfully launched the Japanese communications satellite, JCSAT-14 on their Falcon 9 rocket at 1:22am EST today from Cape Canaveral, Florida. After the launch, the company soft-landed the first stage of the rocket on their drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” – the second time this has ever been done.
Landing confirmed. Second stage continuing to carry JCSAT-14… Read More

The U.S. Air Force has awarded SpaceX an $82.7 million contract to launch their GPS-3 satellite into orbit. This is the first National Security Space (NSS) contract for SpaceX, who won essentially by default since ULA, the only other viable competitor, declined to bid in the competition.
“This GPS III Launch Services contract award achieves a balance between mission success, meeting… Read More

SpaceX confirmed to TechCrunch that their next launch is scheduled for May 4th at 1:22 am EST with a two-hour launch window. The company is expected to couple the launch with another rocket landing attempt on a drone ship out at sea.
It was less than three weeks ago that SpaceX made their first successful rocket recovery on a drone ship.
Landing from the chase plane… Read More